On Christmas Day at the WaTiki indoor water park, Hans Wirt was getting winded from following his son up the stairs to the waterslides.
Wirt’s breathing became more labored once they returned to the nearby hotel where they and Wirt’s girlfriend were staying while visiting family in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Then he grew nauseated and went pale. Wirt thought the cause might have been the altitude change between his home in Deltona, Florida — 33 feet above sea level — and Rapid City, at the edge of the Black Hills. But his 12-year-old son was worried and called for an ambulance.
“I could tell by the look in his eyes that there was something a little more to this,” Wirt said. “So I can kind of thank my son for saving my life.”
It turned out the 62-year-old was having a heart attack. A “lousy Christmas present,” Wirt said.
Medics stabilized Wirt before taking him to Monument Health — the only hospital in Rapid City with an emergency room — where he was treated over two days.
Then the bill came.
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The Medical Procedure
Paramedics used a defibrillator to restore a normal heart rhythm. Doctors at the hospital gave Wirt various medications, used an electrocardiograph and other diagnostic and monitoring devices, and inserted stents into his arteries to improve blood flow to his heart.
The Final Bill
$95,523.73, including $32,998.90 for medical supplies, mostly related to the sten …